Customer delight

"We are not talking to each other, but we don't mind posing for you" This could be one of the captions that I could think of after clicking this sunset picture at Colaba.

They were actually posing for me, because after clicking when I started walking, they too started walking with me. Sunset is a good opportunity to click good pictures, like these kids having a lively chat while the sun goes down.

While clicking I saw this lighthouse, which came into existence in  1770.  This is situated at the prong of Colaba.

When the Portuguese occupied the island of Bombay in the 16th century they built a watchtower on the Old woman's island (Colaba)

Later it was. modified into a lighthouse by the British in 1770. It was further improved in 1800 by a powerful wick lamp.This was the first major lighthouse in British India followed by one in Madras in the same year.

After many changes in the lamp, in 2008 it got its present 70 Watt metal Halide lamp.
Not much has changed in the Marinedrive area of Mumbai. Like this font from the 50s still stands as a sign board in the area.

Some of the buildings with rounded corners which I have seen in the early 60s, still stands.

The heritage structure next to Churchgate station stands in all its glory with the tricolour and the ever present yellow taxis of Mumbai justapositioned in the front. Incidentally I found that the taxis are cheaper than the Uber.

Years have gone by but the buying and selling power of this simple flower lady remains the same (not far from the Sensex office)

The bus service by BEST keeps improving as the years go by. Like they have seperate lines for gents and ladies (ladies from the front)

In the bus I was highly impressed by the conductor's interaction with the passengers, always jovial and happy, cracking a joke here and there. One lady did not know where to alight, but had the address on her phone. The conductor took the phone from her and had a look at the address. Then he opened google map on her phone and fed in the location on the map. From the route he got the stop which was closest to her destination and issued a ticket accordingly. All this with a smile. I would call this as customer delight.

All Souls Day

People usually visit the cemetery on all souls day to pay their respects to their near and dear ones. I make it a point to walk around and have a look at all the graves, some colourfully decorated 

while some make it simple with just a single bouquet 

It’s a pleasure to walk around the St Sepulchers cemetery in Pune.

I saw these small graves which were unmarked (probably infants) but someone had left some flowers on the graves  

Some sit down and painstakingly arrange each and every flower 

I noticed this dog with a collar. Was he spending a few minutes of solitude with his master? 

Some of the graves looked uniform, (with similar decorations) 

If you have the time and patience, you get to read some good and meaningful writings on the tombstones. 

I noticed that on the older tombstones, the cause of the death was also mentioned. 

I was fascinated by the statue of an angel behind this lady 

I don’t think the present day craftsman can make anything like this in marble or stone.

The next time I must make it a point to go early. The noon sun is not the right time to click pictures.

Something out of nothing

Was at my cousin’s place at Angamali (Cochin) and had some time to kill as there were a few more hours for my flight.   While sitting outside in her courtyard I could see some leaves shining against the oblique sunlight.   I fetched my camera and clicked some pictures by placing the leaves in between the camera and the sunlight. 

The results were something better than what I expected and it reminded me of what Ambrose Bierce said “Photograph is a picture painted by the sun without instruction in art”

At the editing table I did a little bit of tweaking with the colour tones which further enhanced the quality of the pictures. 

In Japanese this is known as Komorebi. 
While clicking these pictures, these two guys were having a quick bath. Later they perched on a tree and dried themselves. Captured that in the video.

It will be interesting to know that all these pictures were clicked in the noon sunlight, something like 11.30 am. Playing with the Curve option in Photoshop gives wonderful results.

Talking of Photoshop, there was this photograph that I clicked at a wedding which was a total wash out. Clicked in a hurry without changing the settings and this was the result.  

Later while processing from raw, I was about to delete the picture when I thought “let me see what I can do with this”

I played around with Photoshop and this is what I got :

I gave it a nice white background and enhanced it a little more.

Then I eliminated each character from the picture and got three more photographs. 

Selected a good music and gave it a punch by matching each picture with the beat of the music. The final result is appealing to the ear and the eye. (see video)

Talk of making something out of nothing. 

Drumstick flower

Liked the way this single stalk of Orchid stood out, braving the rain and the strong breeze.

Had been for a short visit to Kerala and the heavy rains kept us indoor most of the time but from the window one can see some interesting things, like this irumban puli (Averrhoa bilimbi)

They are good as a substitute for tamarind or tomato in an emergency. They are easy to pluck as they grow low – on the trunk of the tree.

Another view from the window is this big bunch of banana.

We may have to wait for another month to cut it down, but there is no harm in cutting its flower (some call it Banana hearts)  We did just that and made it into a lovely curry. (the flavour resembles that of the artichoke) 

A close look at this rope showed some busy ants. When I followed their trail, I found that they were building their home in one of the low slung trees. We humans can learn a few things by observing their team work. 

I spied these flowers on the drumstick tree.

Always liked the side dish that was prepared from the drumstick flower. So I collected as much as I could, and carefully removed the flowers and segregated them.

These were properly washed and soaked.

After draining the water they were sauted on slow fire. Added some grated coconut and further sauted them.

The end result was really sumptuous.

Drumstick flowers prevent frequent infection of the throat, chest and the skin.

(all pics clicked in and around the house)

Next post - some more on the Kerala trip.